Certain vehicle body rear structures have a rear parcel provided between left and right vehicle body side parts, the trunk and the passenger compartment being partitioned by the rear parcel, and a closed cross section being provided in a front end part of the rear parcel (see Patent Literature 1, for example). This closed cross section is provided across left and right wheel houses, and left and right end parts are located at the tops of the left and right wheel houses. The left and right end parts are made to open upward, and these openings are thereby located at the tops of the left and right wheel houses. Forming these openings in the left and right end parts ensures space for attaching a damper (a shock absorber) to the tops of the left and right wheel houses.
However, in the vehicle body rear structure of Patent Literature 1, the left and right end parts are located at predetermined gaps from the left and right vehicle body side parts because the left and right end parts of the closed cross section are made to open upward. Therefore, it is difficult for a load to be suitably (efficiently) transferred between the left and right vehicle body side parts and the closed cross section (the rear parcel), in which regard there is room for improvement.
Additionally, in certain vehicle body rear structures, a first reinforcement is provided to a wheel house, a second reinforcement is provided to the first reinforcement, a damper base (a damper bracket) is supported by the second reinforcement, and the top part of a damper (a shock absorber) is provided on the damper base (see Patent Literature 2, for example). In this vehicle body rear structure, the rigidity and strength of the damper base can be ensured by reinforcing the damper base using the first reinforcement and second reinforcement.
There is demand for further increasing the rigidity and strength of the damper base in order to suitably support the top part of the damper with the damper base. However, as in the vehicle body rear structure of Patent Literature 2, it is difficult to sufficiently increase the rigidity and strength of the damper base in accordance with demand by combining only single reinforcing members such as the first reinforcement or the second reinforcement.
Other known examples of vehicle body rear structures include those in which a linking gusset extends rearward in the vehicle body from the top part of a rear wheel house along a rear wall part, and a rear pillar reinforcement extends upward from the top part of the rear wheel house along a side wall part up to a rear pillar (see Patent Literature 3, for example). In this vehicle body rear structure, the rigidity and strength of the rear wheel house can be ensured by reinforcing the rear wheel house with the linking gusset and the rear pillar reinforcement.
To comply with the demand to further increase the rigidity and strength of the rear wheel house, it is conceivable to cause loads to be transferred from the top part of the rear wheel house to the rear parcel. The rear parcel is usually provided to a vehicle body rear structure as a member for partitioning the trunk and the passenger compartment.
Recently rear parcels have tended to be placed in a high position in order to guarantee a larger trunk space of a vehicle body rear structure. Locating the rear parcel in a high position causes the rear parcel to be set comparatively far from the rear wheel house. It is therefore difficult to further improve the rigidity and strength of the rear wheel house (i.e. the vehicle body rear part) due to the fact that loads are transferred from the top part of the rear wheel house to the rear parcel.